Cardiovascular Exercise

Cardio exercise is important for a healthy heart and weight loss.
To lose weight you need to burn more calories than you eat.
Pump that heart use those lungs! Get your heart rate up.
Focus on activities that that move the whole body rather than individual joints.
Choose an activity that you enjoy. The best exercise for you is the one you'll actually do, not the one you think you should do. Waking is a great place to start since it doesn't require special equipment and you can do it anywhere, but you can try any activity that involves some type of continuous movement like
• Swimming
• Walking
• Cycling
• Running
• Classes land / water
• Incidental fitness eg: taking the stairs
• Lo impact vs. High impact

How long, hard, or often should we exercise? Every day, there is no great risk of injury or overtraining.
• 90min - very fit
• 60min- fit
• 30 min - average fitness
• 10min x 3 - unfit
It doesn’t have to be go hard or go home! It does need to be enjoyable.
Look for signs of overexertion – red face, short breath, heavy sweating, not able to talk throughout the exercise

Everyone is different and these factors will affect the amount of exercise you need and how your body will respond
• How many calories you eat – energy input output
• How hard you exercise – working within a training zone
• Your metabolism, age, gender – you can’t change some things!
• Your current fitness level
• Your body fat % and weight – BMI + WHR
• Your exercise schedule _ FITT formula
• Lifestyle habits eg: smoking, drinking, eating fast food

Ultimately we all exercise for a different reason, which means the benefits are bound to be varied and specific to each person and their aims and goals.
• Life balance
• Work balance – job specific - posture
• Health
• Family
• Increased independence / longevity
• Competition

Whatever the reason cardiovascular exercise plays an essential part in our overall health and well being!